Something to Talk About

An update on the city’s project to build affordable housing at 625 Winslow Way, the spot of the old police station. The city has been in talks with the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to scope out what’s possible in that location and draft plans have been drawn up. Blair King, city manager, and Sharon Lee, from LIHI, join us.

[email protected]

City agenda packet: https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/bainbridgewa/36214db1-b8ea-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-1288c45d-5d3e-46ae-af61-2e888e37b46d-1737155372.pdf

Susan Young chairs an organization that is seeking to improve access to healthcare in Kitsap County through formation of a Public Hospital District. Find out more about this effort, what kind of health support it might be able to provide, and what you can do to improve health supports in our community.

Slides: https://biseniorcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PHD-30-minute-presentation-1-29-25.pdf

Misty Eberspecher leads Housing Resources Bainbridge's Independent Living program, which helps seniors and folks with disabilities with home safety. She outlines how her program helps prevent falls.

Contact info: [email protected], 206-842-1909, xt. 18

Bainbridge Community Foundation is out with their latest report, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of our community. Dominique Cantwell, community impact consultant with BCF, will share the latest on the island’s demographics and share some of the top-level finding of the 2024/25 report.

Related website: https://bainbridgecf.org

Two early childhood educators share with us some book titles for MLK Day and beyond, and advice about sharing those books with youngsters. Allison McDonald is a pre-school teacher, author, and the publisher of NoTimeForFlashCards.com. George Shannon is a children's author, retired children's librarian, and volunteer. George's website is https://www.georgeshannonauthor.com/

Don’t miss your chance for help filing your tax return from an IRS-certified team you can trust – it’s free. The earlier you file your tax return, the sooner you’ll receive any refund you may be due. Tax-Aide will be available starting in early February through the tax season. Charles Browne, an AARP volunteer, fills us in. Appointments preferred: 206-866-5269

High school students help folks with their technology challenges at the Senior/Community Center on many early-release Mondays. Students Georgia Hansen and Tom Wachter of the Kiwanis Key Club join us to talk about the program, why they like helping folks, what kind of help you can expect, and how to register to participate.

Most of the hype around A.I. focuses on how industry, the military, and government might leverage this computing power for good or ill. But we’re discussing how A.I.-powered “chatbots” might be useful to people like us. We’re joined by Will Neff, who recently used A.I. to help research a novel, and he’ll describe what he's learned.

Tressa Johnson, adult services librarian for the Kitsap Regional Library-Bainbridge Island, talks about a program she runs out of the Bainbridge Island Senior-Community Center: Waterfront Book Group. She’ll preview the titles that are on tap for 2025 and talk about how you can participate in person or over Zoom.

Jerry Cornfield, Olympia reporter with the Washington State Standard, gets us up to speed on what to expect in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 13.

Related links:

https://washingtonstatestandard.com

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/author/jerry-cornfield/